Barkley’s echoes of Cole?

Ronald Koeman’s treatment of Ross Barkley echoes Jose Mourinho’s methods with Joe Cole at Chelsea. Can the Everton youngster respond in the same way and become a more complete player? We take a look at the parallels…

Ross Barkley returned to the Everton starting line-up for the first time in three matches and set up the winner as they beat Arsenal 2-1 at Goodison Park on Tuesday.

It was a bright performance in what has otherwise been a difficult season under manager Ronald Koeman for the 23-year-old, who has been in and out of the team.

After Everton beat Sunderland 3-0 at the Stadium of Light in September, Koeman gave a typically frank response when asked why he had hauled Barkley off at half-time: “He did not show the level I expected, I had to do something. He lost too many balls.”

In 2006, Jose Mourinho had hooked another precocious young English player in even more severe fashion.

With Chelsea a goal down away to London rivals Fulham, the Portuguese hauled off Joe Cole after just 26 minutes, replacing him with Damien Duff and changing his formation. Cole was blanked and threw his tracksuit to the ground in disgust.

It was a public display of Mourinho’s dissatisfaction with Cole’s refusal to apply the same determination to his defensive work as he did in attack. Henrikh Mkhitaryan appears to have experienced similar treatment this season at Manchester United, too.

This time last year, Barkley was enjoying his best spell in an Everton shirt since making his debut in 2011. Nine goals for …

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